


Box Stepping

by honeyc0rpse



Series: Lemon Demon Ocs [3]
Category: Lemon Demon (Musician), Original Work, Spirit Phone - Lemon Demon (Album), Touch-Tone Telephone - Lemon Demon (Song)
Genre: Arcades, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Other, Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28623687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyc0rpse/pseuds/honeyc0rpse
Summary: How to pretend you have a romantic partner to dance with:Step one: use a broom.Step two: crisis.(Some character writing practice for me Touch-Tone Telephone oc (Enn) and my Cabinet Man of (Demo) ^_^ ALSO I'M SORRY FOR CLOGGING UP THE LD TAG HERE
Relationships: touch tone telephone/ cabinet man
Series: Lemon Demon Ocs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983124
Kudos: 16





	Box Stepping

**Author's Note:**

> i have written about these two before!!! but i don't like the fic+i've changed some lore so i privated the fic and i plan on rewriting it soon :] but for now. enjoy these two just being stupid  
> (you can also read a bit about them here!! sorta https://lemonic-demonade.carrd.co/# )

The routine was like second nature for him at this point: leave his home during the middle of the night, make his way to the local arcade, and break in. Carefully, he tiptoed his way to one arcade cabinet in particular and waited for it to recognize the sound of his footprints. After waiting for a minute or two, it beeped three times. 

“Psst, Demo,” Enn rasped in his usual monotone, gently tapping the control panel of the machine with his free hand. Soon enough, several slick metal wires burst from behind the cabinet to envelop Enn in a massive hug. “Calm down, calm down! No need to get all hyped up.” The cords shifted around Enn and surrounded him in affection as to distract from the whirring and such from the machine itself. 

Pieces of its exterior folded inside itself—the coin slots, bits of its sides—and only amplified the whirrings going around in its interior. The noises eventually came to a slow and janky stop, ending off with a “pop” coming out the screen and a humanoid pulling itself out of the machine and stumbling onto the floor. It balanced itself up and dusted off its jacket—his movements had an almost uncanny and staticky feel to them—before beamed up at Enn with a grin. 

“Ennnnnnnn!” Enn looked up and down at Demo repeatedly before responding:

“I thought you were just planning on—”

“I just wanted to try some-something different, you feel me? It’s alwaaays so cramped in-in there.” Demo pointed to the cabinet. Indeed, while it could fit a person inside (maybe even two) it was tightly packed and not so freeing. Demo’s gaze shifted from Enn to his other hand—he held a plastic bag of…quarters? Coins? Vaguely metal objects? 

“Ah, I almost forgot,” Enn shook the cables off and closened his distance to Demo, handing it the bad. “I decided to try and pick up a new hobby these last few days—renovating and (slash or) cleaning up quarters I find. You…do use them to help ventilate, right? I’m not sure how that works, but I’ve got to hand it to you, Demo: it’s incredibly impressive.” Demo opened up the plastic bag and peered into its insides. “Frankly, I didn’t know just how  _ tedious _ the whole process is. Maybe that can be due to my arguable shoddy eyesight or my lack of steady hand coordination but—” 

_ Ding! _ Enn averted his attention back at Demo, who had just slid a quarter down his neck. It repeated the process twice more, feeling around its neck and sliding them through. Little things like that fascinated Enn in every sense of the word—the fact that he, Demo, transmuted his body with an arcade machine and was still able to survive. Maybe not just survive, but live. 

“Oh, Demo. Before I forget; I wanted to ask you something.” Enn dropped his other bad to the floor, letting it rest near his legs. 

“Eh?”

“This is pretty out of the blue, but…do you know how to dance?” Demo’s face scrunched up.

“Daannce? I-I-I do, I think.” 

“Well…” Enn unzipped his jacket and threw it next to his bag, revealing a tucked button-up and a tie colored in yellow, white, purple, and black. “I—uhm—was wondering if…you know…”

“Ahhhhhh! You wanna da-ance?” Enn nodded. “With meeee? Your bat-atshit arcade boyfrieeeennd?” Enn nodded again. “I’m downnnnn for it!” 

“Alright!—Just give me a moment.” Enn squatted down, pulling out a radio from his bag and fiddling for it to work. “Uhm…I can take lead if you so desire.”

~~~

Soft whistles of music spun across each room in his living space, brushing against everything in the record player’s diameter. Enn stood up and straightened his tie as his foot tapped rhythmically to the music. He threw a broom up in the air and spun it around as the vocals of the music began to play:

“Home,” One step, then two. “Is where I want to be.” He spun the broom around, landing it in his arms. “Pick me up and turn me round.” Soon enough, Enn found himself lost in the beat and singing along:

“I feel numb, burn with a weak heart,” he almost tripped over himself. “I guess I must be having…” 

~~~

“Aw…how fun,” Enn spat out sarcastically, fidgeting with the dials. “It doesn’t want to work with me.” The radio buzzed in his hands before echoing a tune. “…Nevermind.” He placed the radio down and stood back up. Seeing as it was almost one in the morning, the only music it had wasn’t anything grand; just a smooth instrumental. Demo, almost recognizing the music instantly, held Enn by both of his hands and inched in—looking down as to calculate each step he took. Though janky and admittedly mechanical, its gestures synced up to the beat of the music. Both their fingers interlaced with one another as to form a close bond; Enn’s were dry and sweating like mad while Demo’s buzzed and was warm to the touch. Maybe a bit too warm.

They entered into…some sort of dance. Neither knew any proper dance and made it up as they went along—holding each other and spinning around every so often. Enn eventually placed one hand onto Demo’s lower back and began to slow dance. No words were exchanged between them—only longing stares. Demo lifted Enn’s arm and spun him around, almost lifting him off the ground before catching him in its arms and keeping him there. 

“Demo…” he paused, looking upwards at his face, “You’re quite good at this stuff, you know.” 

“Th…Th-aaank you, Enn,” Demo buzzed, heart beeping loudly. Though he had no human skin on his face to show blush or signs of infatuation, his heartbeat (made up primarily of beeping noises) would both amplify and speed up which also caused him to stiffen up. Enn placed one of his hands onto its heart and remained that way as the song slowly faded out, ending with a lowly pitched flute solo and static. 

“Cute,” Enn muttered under his breath, still monotone. 

“Hm?” Demo looked back at Enn, who quickly readjusted himself the second the words left its mouth.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” Enn wiped the sweat from his hands onto his pants. 

“Saaaay, Enn. I-I-I’ve got a question for you if you don’t miiiind me asking.” 

“Yeah?”

“Was there a rea-reason you asked me to dance with you?”

“…Uhm…”

~~~

His heels clicked against the hardwood surface, attempting to box step around with a broom in hand. He snapped his fingers to the rhythm of the music—but instead of a cheery melody, he snapped until his fingers reddened and chafed. 

Enn let go of the broom in an instant, dropping to the floor and sitting right next to it. The music soon winded out before the only thing audible was the scratching of the record and Enn’s shaking breathing. 

“Dammit,” he muttered, throwing his glasses across the floor and burying his face in his hands. His eyelids glued shut and he slowly began to drag his hands down his face. His hands trembled with each passing second, continuously pulling at his face as if his hands weren’t his. As if they were the hands of someone else. Someone else that’d willingly do such a thing for him. 

Unfortunately, this wasn’t uncommon for Enn. Using inanimate objects around his home as a vessel for his romantic desires. Talking to them, dancing around with them, it became almost routine at this point. He’d never get a response—which, of course, was expected, but the continuous pining with none reciprocated drained him. Maybe, just maybe, there was someone that Enn would consider to fall head over heels for, but was that possible? Would he love him back? Hell, they’ve never seen each other’s faces before. How would he know that they were meant for one another?

~~~

“I…uhm…just wanted to spend more time with you,” Enn placed his weight over Demo, hands running across the areas between its waist and hip. “I thought something more physical would be nice for a change. Just…you and me, holding each other tightly while music played. However, it sounded much more romantic in my head.” He ran his hands across once more before resting them near Demo’s hips. “Are you doing okay? This isn’t putting too much pressure on you, right? I mean—we can stop if you want.” 

Demo rested his arms over Enn’s neck and looked him in the eye. “I’m al-al-alright! Just aaaaa bit tired.” He peered to the side. “Ah…tiiiired,” he beeped. 

~~~

He sat near the edge of his bed, holding the handset of one of his several phones. He spoke nothing—instead of taking in the words that flowed from the phone’s speakers. 

“That’s pretty odd, isn’t it? I mean—I’m really not sure about it myself, honestly. I’d be expecting something a bit more but—” the voice from the other phone line yawned. Enn spoke up, in a tone more gentle than usual:

“Are you alright?” 

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine! I’m just  _ so, so  _ tired. Jeez…oh! I forgot to tell you, Enny. You see, I recently got a part-time job the other day ‘cause I’ve heard about some new apparition or something that’s been haunted the tech here.”

“An apparition? I think I may have a few files on those.”

“Yeah! It’s just repairing arcade machines and shit like that. Mechanic work, basically! If I’m being honest with you, it’s a lot easier than I thought it’d be,” he commented nonchalantly, but his voice soon stiffened, “It’s almost like I’ve done things like this before. Which is weird, right?”

“I wouldn’t know for sure. I’m not you.” 

“Ah…you’re right. Anyway,” he yawned again. “Shiiiiit.” 

“Maybe it’s best for you to go to bed.” 

“Maybe it is, but personally (and I think this is just a me thing) I work a lot better when the moon’s out.”

~~~

“Tired?” Enn asked back at Demo. It slid down and sat onto the floor, searching around for the bag of quarters. Enn followed suit, sitting right next to him. Demo leaned to the side and fell into Enn’s lap in an instant. Was he simply playing around? Or did he fall unconscious? “Psst. Demo,” Enn’s voice faded into a soft whisper. He ran his fingers through Demo’s hair, waiting for a response. His suspicions were confirmed correct—Demo fell dead asleep on his lap. Enn kept playing with its hair, brushing it with his fingers and twirling the strands. 

Tranquil; that was the only word that could be used to describe the atmosphere. Finally at peace. No more face tugging, no more stressing phone calls. Just two guys in an arcade. It was all so odd, frankly. At any moment in time Demo could off him or mutilate him to bits, but instead, they still shared a tight-knit bond similar to when Demo wasn’t in his current state. 

Enn brushed his hand across Demo’s cheek and forehead, soon feeling the cords from the machine crept onto him—was it coming from Demo’s unconscious? There was still so very little he knew about the man laying right in front of him; what would motivate him to do such a thing to itself? Just how did it get the knowledge to complete a feat like this on such short notice? Demo itself was quite the anomaly; Enn had spent many a time asking him about how each bit intertwined with one another and how they worked. 

Weird, but fascinating nonetheless.

**Author's Note:**

> barbata fun fact : the song in the flashback is this must be the place by talking heads bc i love the song sm


End file.
